Joan Mitchell Center Artists' Studio Building

New Orleans, LA

The New York City based Joan Mitchell Foundation commissioned a studio building for a visiting artists’ residency program in New Orleans soon after Hurricane Katrina. The artists’ studio building is situated on the interior of the block and is the only new construction within a larger campus of historic structures owned by the foundation. The building is configured in an L-shape to frame a large communal green space for the campus. Storm water retention is incorporated into the overall design with a sloped lawn, bioswales and retention pond. A primary bioswale planted with native vegetation slips under an entry bridge as it approaches a lower horizontal foreground mass whose façade is treated with vertical louvers in response to Louisiana’s harsh western sun. Rising behind this louvered garden façade are light monitors for eight studio volumes that catch north light while responding to the scale, geometry, material and rhythm of neighboring houses. The studio building anticipates a LEED Gold rating.